Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Paleo(ish) Almond-Buckwheat Pancakes

One could say that I have an affinity for pancakes, seeing as this is my fourth pancake recipe on this blog. What can I say? I think starting the day with a stack of pancakes is pretty awesome thing to do.

You can imagine, then, my reaction when my doctor advised me to give up grains and dairy for a few weeks: What was I going to eat for breakfast?! For a few days, I had eggs with salsa. Even with the salsa I canned a few months ago (seriously delicious stuff - best canned salsa recipe ever), I was feeling pretty burned out on just having eggs every morning. I needed some other breakfast options.

Lucky for me, my dad has been following a paleolithic diet (everyone in the family calls it the "caveman diet") for years now. He swears by it -- he doesn't get migraines as often as he used to, his skin looks great, he doesn't get acid reflux anymore, and his doctor told him at his physical that he's as healthy as a 30-year-old. Take it for what it's worth. Anyway, my dad has avoided grains and dairy since 2010, so I called home for some help and my mom gave me this recipe for almond-buckwheat pancakes.

Now, I did a little reading and it's seems like the jury's still out about whether or not buckwheat is paleo-friendly. Since it's not a grain at all and is actually a fruit, some people say it's fine; others say that it's a no-go. If you're hardcore paleo and are wary about buckwheat, I figure you could just use all almond flour and skip the buckwheat. I kept the buckwhat flour in. Even if you're not on the paleo bandwagon, this is a great pancake for those who can't eat gluten. And even if you're not sensitive to gluten or on a paleo diet, you could still make these because they're healthy and pretty tasty.

Mix the dry ingredients (except the cream of tartar) in a medium-large bowl.

Combine the almond milk and honey in a small bowl and then add to the dry mixture.

Next, get your egg whites ready. It took about seven eggs to get the 3/4 cup of whites (I saved the yolks for another recipe, of course). That's a lot of eggs, I know. You may want to use the egg whites that come in a carton.

Whip up the whites until soft peaks form. While the whites are being whipped, add the cream of tartar. I used my KitchenAid with the whisk attachment to do this step, but you also do it by hand.

Fold the whites gently into the batter.

Pour the batter onto a hot griddle or skillet. Once air bubbles form, flip the pancakes.

Top the pancakes with butter (yep, butter is paleo -- I checked) and real maple syrup. Whether or not you devour them like a caveman (you know, lots of grunting and no utensils) is up to you.